MARCH 8 "THOSE WERE THE GOOD 'OL DAYS...OR WERE THEY?"

The Devil is a master at re-writing history.  I'm not meaning to compare Hollywood to the Devil and His works, (or maybe I am) but we know when the  read introduction says,  "Based on a true story" you're in for quite a fabrication and stretch from the truth.  Was there any truth in that? Sure, 1%, the other 99% was fabricated. The Devil takes our history and re-writes it in our minds and leaves an ounce of truth so we don't completely dismiss it. Did the Israelites eat fish in Egypt, well I guess they did if they say so, but to somehow look back at Egypt as "the good 'ol days", really?!? Had Moses stopped them at the Red Sea and say, now remember, you're going to miss this place and one day look back at this place as the "good 'ol days" are you sure you want to cross with me?" ......They would have run him over! Nostalgia is a precarious place to go in our minds. Feelings and thoughts sweep through us to create a utopia out of what used to be anything but a utopia. "Those were the good 'ol days"  NO they were not!! That's why you came to Jesus, that's why you ran for your lives from that place, whether it be Egypt or ..........we all have our Egypt that we escaped from by the help and Grace of God. It is an insult to God when we look back and feel warm feelings, reminisce and dream about being back there. The Devil is a master at re-writing history to be nothing less than a Hollywood production in our minds, that at best we can say, "based loosely on a true story" or at worse "this is a complete lie and misrepresentation of my past! I do not put my approval on this script this is a complete lie"  This is not to say that are past lives, without Christ was a complete lost (although some might say, no, it was) this is not to say we never had a good time, never had moments that were special, never experienced love, this is simply to day, we surely don't reminisce and allow the Devil to convince us that those days were better than what God has for us now. God may not burn us up with a fire as He did in our text today, but His anger is no less intense for us as it was for them. The caution here is not to allow our minds to wonder and allow history to be re-written in our minds and thoughts to represent what never was. Yes there may have been good times, but there were far more bad than good, so much so, that we, like the Israelites cried out to God in our misery and He heard us and He rescued us and we must never allow that history to be re-written any other way!

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